


smoke in the mountains

by spideywhiteys



Series: 365 Days of Naruto AUs [15]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, I Can't Believe I Wrote This, M/M, Sakumo time travels and isn't aware, Time Travel, but now i'm interested whoops, catch me continuing this hahaaa, indra speaks like a very very very old person, it's more like pre-slash, sakumo is lost and confused and indra is very pretty, there's honestly barely anything, this is a crack pairing if i've ever seen one, yet - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-15
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-13 16:22:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28781181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spideywhiteys/pseuds/spideywhiteys
Summary: Hatake Sakumo has just made a choice that will irrevocably end in his death - or it would have, in another universe. Instead, he finds himself in a place that's entirely unrecognizable and very, very far from Konoha...in more ways than one.
Relationships: Hatake Sakumo/Ootsutsuki Indra
Series: 365 Days of Naruto AUs [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2086938
Comments: 2
Kudos: 40





	smoke in the mountains

**Author's Note:**

> Day 15: Daemons AU / Sakumo + Indra

Sakumo is in a no good, very bad place after having a no good, very bad day. The mission he’d been on had failed. Plain and simple. He’d made the decision to save a comrade and he can’t bring himself to regret that. Not now, not even when it gets difficult. 

The last thing he remembers is fleeing with his squad, an unconscious Keisuke on his back, the man’s bright red cardinal, Mimi, tucked in the junction between his neck and shoulder. Engan on their heels, her white fur brushing his side as they ran in tandem. 

Then nothing. 

Sakumo had abandoned his mission for his team, and now that team is nowhere to be seen. Instead he finds himself lying in a field of bright greenery, wildflowers pushing up against his body. Tall trees stretch up to the sky, branches obscuring his view of a bright, sunny sky. Light pours through gaps in the leaves, dappling the ground like a vision out of an oil painting. At his side, Engan wakes with a breath.

“Got any idea what happened?” He asks, though it’s unlikely. They’re two halves of a soul, after all; if he lost consciousness, so did she. 

Engan shakes her head, brilliant hazel eyes blinking slowly as she observes their surroundings. “No. Could be short-term memory loss.”

“For both of us?” That’s concerning. There are probably poisons or chemicals or even  _ seals _ that can do that. “If that’s the case, who knows how much time has passed.”

_ Days. _ He might have lost  _ weeks. _ Konoha could think him dead. His son, little Kakashi who was barely four, could think him dead. Konoha wouldn’t look after Kakashi. They’d let him live on his own, even though there were still things to teach. Still things that an adult should do for a child. 

Sakumo stands. Engan follows suit, the wolf sticking close to his side. They both breathe in the air around them, sharp noses on the hunt for anything familiar, anything that could lead them to answers.

“I don’t recognize the area.” Sakumo murmurs after a long moment. “This kind of terrain rules out Suna and probably Kiri, perhaps even Kumo.”

“If we’re in Kiri then we have a lot more to worry about.”

He snorts softly, “I’m trying not to think about that too hard.”

Because then it means there’s an ocean between him and the Land of Fire. Sakumo leaves the little space filled with sunlight and wildflowers and wanders into the forest. His silent movements are met with the sounds of wilderness; bird calls, the chirps of insects, the wind rustling through lofty tree branches. He hears a slow-moving brook some distance away. The light steps of a stag. The scurrying of squirrels racing each other up a tree. 

It’s idyllic, peaceful to the point of pain. Sakumo’s life is made up of blood. Blood he spills from his flesh and blood he spills from the flesh of others. His hands are coated in it, his dreams are riddled with it. Sometimes he looks at Engan, the reflection of his soul, of his deepest self, and wonders how it’s possible that her pure white coat isn’t stark crimson.

He doesn’t know where he’s going, but panic is staunchly killed before it can even begin. Shinobi do not panic, and he has slaughtered more than just others — he’s slaughtered bits of himself, too. Bits that Konoha deemed unnecessary, bits that children are supposed to have as long as they aren’t chewed up and spat out by the Academy. Sakumo wanders through a forest that sings the way places untouched by the heavy hands of man do.

He brushes his fingertips against the rough bark of a tree as he passes, a little wondrous. He forgets sometimes that war does not exist everywhere, even if it feels like it does. 

Sakumo murmurs, “It’s too bad.” 

And Engan understands the way she always does.

It’s too bad Sakumo is not meant for pretty flowers and pooling sunlight across unhindered greenery. It’s too bad Sakumo is not meant for wilderness beyond using it as a means to perform his duty. 

He thinks Kakashi would love it here.

Wherever  _ here _ is.

“Engan—”

“Hush.” She snaps, quiet. Her ears are perked, every muscle tensed. It’s with an instinctive familiarity that he slips into his own wary stance, a hand slipping to his pouch.

A man walks out from the trees. He’s clothed in a pristine white kimono with vaguely familiar symbols embroidered on the high collar. Dark hair and dark eyes, the kind that spark recognition in Sakumo’s mind, especially with those facial features. He’d pin the man as an Uchiha...if it weren’t for the fact that he doesn’t recognize the other at all, nor was he wearing the kind of clothing that an active shinobi would — and Uchiha were staunchly and severely battle-oriented. 

_ He’s beautiful. _

Ethereal, even. Like the moon had descended from the heavens and taken a human form. Pale, perfectly sculpted features were framed by flowing, spiky bangs — not a hair out of place. Dark lashes and a line of purple underneath, only drawing attention to the obsidian irises.

Behind him, a beast roams back and forth, tail flicking side to side carelessly. Engan stiffens at the sight of the huge predator. Sakumo feels a flare of worry, but doesn’t find the same fear within him. 

It’s not often a person’s daemon takes the shape of a lion.

“State your name and intentions.” Those dark eyes slice over his body with a razor edge, as if he can see through Sakumo’s clothes and skin and muscle, all the way to his heart. He looks vaguely interested, the way children do when they have a new toy — or maybe that’s not right. Either way, it makes Sakumo want to squirm and  _ Great Sage, _ he doesn’t know why.

He really, really hopes this is some crazy dream and he actually made it home to his village and his son.

“Hatake Sakumo.” He replies carefully, “To be honest, the only intentions I have are the ‘ _ finding my way home’ _ variety. Think you can point me in the direction of Konoha?”

A furrow of short brows, “A destination with such a name has never graced my ears.”

_ Impossible, _ Sakumo wants to say.  _ Why are you talking like that? _ Is his next thought.

“Um, then could you possibly tell me what Land I’m in?” He says instead.

Again, the beautiful man’s face barely shifts, but his confusion is there. Near invisible. “This continent has not yet received titles to encompass separations in land distribution.”

Sakumo blinks. “So, no name?”

The lion behind the man huffs out a breath that sounds too close to laughter for it to be anything but.

“I do not have the answer you seek, no.”

“Wonderful.” So either this guy is crazy, Sakumo is on a completely different continent — probably across the sea, far past Kiri — or...something else. Either way, he’s entirely lost and he doesn’t even know if his team is alright.

“O-inu-sama, if you desire it, I can accompany you to my father. If it is a lost home you are seeking, very few would prove able in locating a distant plain other than he.”

Sakumo starts to smile and — pauses. 

_ O-inu-sama?  _ He glances at Engan, pointing at himself.  _ Me? _ He mouths to her. 

She looks back at him with a completely deadpan expression that reminds him far too much of his son. Her stance has relaxed and it feels as if the threat of danger has passed.

Sakumo looks back to the beautiful man, feeling a little flustered at the thought of being compared to a wolf god. Flattered, even. His pale skin really does blush too easily. “Uh, I’m not...uh, my name is Hatake Sakumo?”

“I know.” Is the reply, accompanied by the faintest tilt of an amused mouth, dark eyes dragging up Sakumo’s body in much the same way as earlier, though a little heavier. A little more dangerous...for none of the usual reasons. “You may address this one as Otsutsuki Indra. Come, lost traveler. No harm will befall you on our travels.”

_ Bit full of himself, huh. _ Is Sakumo’s first thought.  _ Wait, is he flirting with me? _ Is the one that comes a split second later.

**Author's Note:**

> Follow / Support me on [Tumblr](https://spideyfoof.tumblr.com/) and let me know if you'd like to see more of this AU!


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